The old sea wall extending from near La Punta to the Plaza de Armas, unarmed, and useless except as a parapet for musketry.
The old arsenal, on the west of the inner bay, now used as repair works for ships, useless for defense.
The old artillery and engineer storehouses near La Punta, probably once used as strongholds, now mere storehouses for munitions of war.
There are, besides, in the vicinity of Havana, three old and now useless stone works—one at Chorrera, the mouth of the Almendarez River, about 4 miles from Havana harbor; another at Cojimar, on the coast, about 3 miles eastward of Cabana, and the third at the inlet called La Playa de Mariano, about 7 miles west of Havana.
Batteries Nos. 1 and 2 were equipped with, No. 1, four Hontoria 6-inch guns; two Nordenfeldt 6-pounders; No. 2, two Krupp 12-inch guns; four Hontoria 3-inch mortars. The 12-inch Krupps were to stand off battleships attempting to force the harbor, or to bombard the Morro. The Valago battery, a part of the Morro, an out-work on the edge of the cliff, mounting four 11-inch Krupp guns separated by earth traverses.
The Morro, commenced in 1589 and finished in 1597, is important for historical associations. It is a most picturesque structure, and is useful as a lighthouse and prison, and is mounted with twelve old 10-inch, eight old 8-inch, and fourteen old 4-inch guns.
Cabana, finished in 1774 at a cost of $14,000,000, lies some 500 yards southeast of El Morro, on the east side of Havana Bay. Toward the city it exposes a vertical stone wall of irregular trace, with salients at intervals. Toward the Morro is a bastioned face protected by a deep ditch, sally port, and drawbridge. Eastward and southward a beautifully constructed land front incloses the work. This front is protected by ditches 40 or more feet deep, well constructed glacis, stone scarp, and counterscarp. Cabana is a magnificent example of the permanent fortifications constructed a century ago. Probably 10,000 men could be quartered in it.
The entrance to Cabana is by the sally port that opens upon the bridge across the moat lying between Cabana and El Morro. Upon entering, the enormous extent of the work begins to be perceived, parapet within parapet, galleries, casemates, and terrepleins almost innumerable, all of stone and useless. There are no earth covers or traverses, and no protection against modern artillery.
Cabana is the prison for offenders against the State, and the scene of innumerable executions. From an exterior or salient corner of the secretary's office of the headquarters there leads a subterranean passage 326 meters long, 2.5 meters wide, and 1.86 high, excavated in the rock. It conducts to the sea, debouching at the mouth of a sewer, 87 meters from the Morro wharf. At exactly 132 meters along the road rising from the Morro pier or wharf to the Cabana, there will be found by excavating the rock on the left of the road, at a depth of 3 meters, a grating, on opening which passage will be made into a road 107 meters long, 1.6 high, and 1.42 wide, leading to the same exit as the Cabana secret way. These passages are most secret, as all believe that the grating of the sewer, seen from the sea, is a drain.
The battery of Santa Clara is the most interesting of the fortifications of Havana, and one of the most important. It lies about 100 yards from the shore of the gulf, at a point where the line of hills to the westward runs back (either naturally or artificially) into quarries, thus occupying a low salient backed by a hill. Here are three new Krupp 11-inch guns, designed to protect El Principe, the land side of Havana. It is 187 feet above sea level and completely dominates Havana, the bay, Morro, Cabana, the coast northward, Atares, and from east around to south, the approaches of the Marianao Road, Cristina, and the Western Railroad for about 3 kilometers, i.e., between Cristina and a cut at that distance from the station. Principe gives fire upon Tulipan, the Cerro, the Hill of the Jesuits, and the valley through which passes the Havana Railroad, sweeping completely with its guns the railroad as far as the cut at Cienaga, 2-1/2 to 3 miles away. It dominates also the hills southward and westward toward Puentes Grandes and the Almendarez River, and country extending toward Marianao, also the Calzada leading to the cemetery and toward Chorrera; thence the entire sea line (the railroad to Chorrera is partly sheltered by the slope leading to Principe. This is by all means the strongest position about Havana which is occupied. Lying between it and the hill of the Cerro is the hill of the Catalan Club, right under the guns of the work and about one-half mile away. The Marianao Road is more sheltered than the Havana, as it runs near the trees and hill near the Cerro. The only points which dominate the hill of the Principe lie to the south and southeast in the direction of Jesus del Monte and beyond Regla. On its southern, southeastern, and southwestern faces the hill of Principe is a steep descent to the calzada and streets below. The slope is gradual westward and around by the north. From this hill is one of the best views of Havana and the valley south. El Principe lies about one-half mile from the north coast, from which hills rise in gradual slopes toward the work. It is Havana gossip that El Principe is always held by the Spanish regiment in which the Captain-General has most confidence. The military notes pronounce El Principe undoubtedly the strongest natural position about Havana now occupied by defensive works. Its guns sweep the heights of the Almendares, extending from the north coast southward by the hills of Puentes Grandes to the valley of Cienaga, thence eastward across the Hill of the Jesuits and the long line of trees and houses leading to the Cerro. The country beyond the Cerro is partly sheltered by trees and hills, but eastward El Principe commands in places the country and the bay shore, and gives fire across Havana seaward.